Clinical case of COVID-19 course in a child with aplastic anemia.

The problem of the non-smooth course of COVID-19 and deaths in children with severe comorbid pathology is urgent. Among all registered cases of a new coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation, children account for up to 8,6%, of which severe forms are noted, as a rule, in patients with concomitant diseases. A clinical observation of the course of a new coronavirus infection in a child with a severe form of idiopathic aplastic anemia complicated by pancytopenia is presented. COVID-19 infection caused a sharp deterioration in the child's condition. Despite the use of modern methods of therapy, there was a rapid deterioration of clinical and laboratory parameters: an increase in febrility, respiratory failure, interstitial changes in the lungs, a decrease in oxygen saturation to 70%, hemorrhagic, anemic syndromes and multiple organ failure with the development of a fatal outcome. Aplastic anemia is a factor predisposing to the severe course of COVID-19 and contributing to an unfavorable outcome.Copyright © 2022 Interregional public organization Association of infectious disease specialists of Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad region (IPO AIDSSPbR). All rights reserved.

Clinical case of COVID-19 course in a child with aplastic anemia.

The problem of the non-smooth course of COVID-19 and deaths in children with severe comorbid pathology is urgent. Among all registered cases of a new coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation, children account for up to 8,6%, of which severe forms are noted, as a rule, in patients with concomitant diseases. A clinical observation of the course of a new coronavirus infection in a child with a severe form of idiopathic aplastic anemia complicated by pancytopenia is presented. COVID-19 infection caused a sharp deterioration in the child's condition. Despite the use of modern methods of therapy, there was a rapid deterioration of clinical and laboratory parameters: an increase in febrility, respiratory failure, interstitial changes in the lungs, a decrease in oxygen saturation to 70%, hemorrhagic, anemic syndromes and multiple organ failure with the development of a fatal outcome. Aplastic anemia is a factor predisposing to the severe course of COVID-19 and contributing to an unfavorable outcome.Copyright © 2022 Interregional public organization Association of infectious disease specialists of Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad region (IPO AIDSSPbR). All rights reserved.

Predictors of severe hypoxemia among COVID-19 patients in Burkina Faso (West Africa): Findings from hospital based cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 is one of the world's major health crises. The objective of this study was to determine the predictive factors of severe hypoxemia in patients hospitalized in COVID-19 health facilities in Burkina Faso. PATIENTS AND METHOD: This study was a hospital-based cross-sectional study. The data collected relate to the period of the first wave of the epidemic (March 9 to June 30, 2020). All patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in the requisitioned health facilities of Ouagadougou were included in this study. Predictors of severe hypoxemia were identified using a multivariate logistic regression model. RESULTS: During the study period, 442 patients were included, representing 45.7% of the total number of positive patients in the entire country. The most common co-morbidities were diabetes (55; 12.4%) and arterial hypertension (97; 21.9%). Severe hypoxemia (SpO2 < 90%) was observed in 64 patients (14.5%). Age over 65 years (OR = 8.24; 95% CI: 2.83-24.01) and diabetes (OR = 2.43; 95% CI: 1.17-5.06) were the predictors for occurrence of severe hypoxemia in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: The predictive factors of COVID-19 are similar in African and Caucasian populations. The surveillance of COVID-19 in risk groups should be strengthened to reduce their morbidity and mortality.

Anaesthesiologist-intensivist phycisians at the core of the management of critically ill COVID-19 patients in Africa: persistent challenges, some resolved dilemma and future perspective.

Unlike developed countries which have purely intensivists also called critical care physicians or intensive care physicians to manage critically ill patients like those with severe forms of COVID-19, the practice of critical care medicine in Africa is coined to anaesthesiology. Hence, anaesthesiologist-intensivist physicians are the medical specialists taking care of critically ill COVID-19 patients in Africa. Likewise, unlike intensive care units (ICUs) in high income countries, those in most African countries face the challenge of a lack of emergency drugs and resuscitation equipment, limited health infrastructure and understaffed and underfunded health care systems. The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented one faced by intensivists in high-income countries and anaesthesiologist-intensivist phycisians in Africa. Infected patients with severe forms of the disease like those having grave COVID-19 complications like massive pulmonary embolism, severe cardiac arrhythmias, cardiogenic shock, septic shock, acute kidney injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome require ICU admission for better management. Both intensivists or anaesthesiologist-intensivist physicians have the peculiarity of securing the airways of critically COVID-19 patients and providing respiratory support with mechanical ventilation after laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation when needed. In so doing, they can easily be infected from respiratory droplets or aerosols expired by the COVID-19 patients. Hence, in Africa, anaesthesiologist-intensivist phycisians have a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 compared to other health professionals. It's worth to mention that the COVID-19 pandemic struck African anaesthesiologist-intensivist phycisians and ICUs when there were neither prepared skillfully or lacked the required ICU capacity to meet the demands of thousands of severe COVID-19 African patients. These further weakened the already strained health systems in Africa. It required a lot of creativity, engineering skills and courage for these ill prepared African anaesthesiologist-intensivist physicians to provide care to these critically ill patients and improve their outcomes as the pandemic progressed. However, despites the numerous efforts made in African anaesthesiologist-Intensivist phycisians to care for critically ill COVID-19 patients, the pandemic is spreading at a rapid rate across Africa. There is an urgent need for African health authorities to anticipate on how to scale up the future high ICU capacity needs and limited ICU workforce, infrastructure and equipment to manage severe forms of COVID-19 in future. It cannot be overemphasized that these severe forms of COVID-19 are potentially fatal and are a major contributor to the death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic.